


Runaway Red

by HereInTheLaterNow



Series: Paint The Town Red [1]
Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a sad ending, Canonical Character Death, Character Death, Death, F/F, Fluff and Angst, MIGHT BE TRIGGERING, My First Work in This Fandom, My time at portia, Pretty sad, Sad Ending, Spoilers, detailed description of death, some Gust/Albert on the side
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 09:20:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19720783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereInTheLaterNow/pseuds/HereInTheLaterNow
Summary: Two terminally ill women decide they won't wait for death and hide out in Portia's countryside.





	Runaway Red

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is like really dark. If you don't like the idea of death and witnessing someone die then I highly suggest you give this a pass. This is inspired by a visual novel called Narcissu, if you like depression and have some free time I highly suggest playing it. It's for free on Steam and the app store. It does drag on and some people don't like it. If you will read it ignore the voiced 2nd season and just read the first. Also, SPOILERS!

"No matter what happens just remember we're always with you," she said softly, her green eyes stared deeply into the storm of flames in front of her.

Ginger loved the way the embers rose out of the fire before they were snuffed out by the air. The warm light of the fire added a small flush to her face. Her red curls painted with orange light, the shadows cast by the flames gave her soft features an eerie edge.

L.C. looked up from the stars. "Ginger? What do you mean?"

Ginger tore her gaze from the fire. "You seemed like you needed to hear that."

L.C. smiled at her, "I should be telling that to you." She closed her eyes. She could hear the water of the river drift along. She could hear the fire burn and wood crackle. She could hear the wind ruffle the trees. She could hear the steady and slightly labored breaths they both shared. She could feel the approach of winter.

Besides the occasional "are you okay" or "you should probably go the doctor" that might hint the townspeople; no one besides her best friends Dr. Xu, Gust, Ginger, and Albert knew that L.C. was sick, and she was content because she knew it would stay that way.

She decided the moment she knew she was sick that she wouldn't end her life before she died. Every day would be an adventure, no matter if she downgraded from dungeons completely dominated to an over-reliance on the Civil Corps board of listed requests.

"I'm dying, Ginger," L.C. mumbled.

"Yes, I know," she replied.

"No, not in that way. I mean being stuck inside most of my time, Portia is so beautiful, I want to see more, do more...Be more!" L.C. exclaimed.

"I've felt that way most of my life," Ginger sighed forlornly.

"We don't have to feel that way," the brunette woman stated.

"What do you mean?"

L.C. quickly glanced over at Gust who watched them from a distance. "I mean I want to run away...With you, of course!"

"L.C., don't you love it here?"

"With my whole heart, but I want to see farther than the town," she decided. "I want to see the surrounding areas."

Ginger looked away from her. "And leave my brother? My father? Uncle Russo?"

"You can stay."

"So you'd leave me, too?"

L.C. stopped to think about her next course of action. "Ginger, I when I die I want my soul to drift the endless ocean and my body grounded in Portia."

"And you want me to come? You want to live out such an intimate fantasy with me?"

L.C. gently took her hand and pressed a kiss upon it. "Yes."

"I'm sorry, but I can't," she decided.

"And I won't force you, but, come the thirteenth of Spring, I will be leaving."

"Your birthday?" She asked. "Why then?"

"I could ask for no present better than an adventure out there," L.C. giggled and cupped Ginger's face.

"I do love you, Red," she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against the redhead's lips.

"I love you, too," Ginger leaned into the kiss.

"I'll blow the fire out, you and Gust get home safely okay?"

Ginger slowly stood and patted the dust off of her. "We will."

* * *

For a moment L.C. forgot that night. For a moment Dr. Xu's medicine actually worked. For a moment Ginger and her's love would last forever. But that moment passed and left a dark feeling in her heart. She wasn't afraid of death at all, she was afraid of how the others would feel. How Gale, a man who lost his wife, would feel when his daughter and daughter-in-law died.

Spring the 13th was around the corner.

"I just can't leave everyone behind," Ginger cried as L.C. rushed across the house. She filled her bag with her essentials, she stopped to hesitantly grab Dr. Xu's medicine before she stuffed it in the bag.

"Well I can," L.C. was borderline near tears.

"Why are you being so selfish?"

"Ginger," she softly cupped her face. "Of all the people in the world, you deserve to be the most selfish."

Ginger stopped, for once in her life she had control, she was given a choice, she was treated like an equal. Ginger picked up her parasol. "Happy birthday."

L.C. laughed. "I don't suppose my present is you."

"I could think of nothing better than supporting you after all the times you've supported me."

* * *

Ginger regretted arguing, she really did. She couldn't put into words the absolute rush she got when L.C. woke her up early Spring the 13th morning. The first light hadn't peeked over the horizon yet. L.C. helped Ginger into her dee-dee. L.C. said she only wanted to be gone a few days. A few days wasn't too long. She had a week to give Ginger a memory to bring to the grave.

The desert was out of the question, it was full of desert hoppers and way too hot. The plateau was also out of the question, people actually went to it. So she brought Ginger back towards WOW Industries where she could sit in the shade of the trees. Nothing, not even wildlife lived around there.

At first, L.C. simply drove her through the trees. However, she quickly grew tired of just sitting. She, with her umbrella unopened in her hand, because the trees covered the sun, happily hopped out of the dee-dee and walked around the forest. Hand in hand with L.C., they leaned against a tree, and lounged in the grass, and watched the clouds from under the shade.

L.C. knew that no one would think of the forest behind the WOW Industries building until it was too late. No one came up there and that made it the perfect spot, and Ginger seemed pleased. When the sun went down she walked Ginger to the waterfall.

"I've never seen a waterfall in person," Ginger admitted. Her hand lazily swiped through the water.

"Yes, you have, you're looking at it right now," L.C. smiled.

"You're right," she paused. "Do you think they are worried about us?"

"Everyone is probably freaking out," L.C. whispered. "But for once I don't care. The light in your eyes just from today has been enough to melt my guilt."

A stray tear fell from Ginger's eye.

"Hey, hey, hey. Come here," she said as she gently pulled the redhead towards her. "If you want to go home I'll happily take you home. No argument on my part."

"I-I don't want to go back. I miss everyone, but now that I'm here. It's, It's," more tears fell from her eyes. "All I ever wanted was to be normal."

L.C. pressed a kiss to her forehead. She cupped her face and used the pads of her thumbs to wipe her eyes.

"Your nymph-like beauty compliments this place, ya know, like a forest fairy," she laughed lamely.

"You always knew how to charm me," Ginger giggled and wiped the tears away.

L.C. could almost physically feel the anger and worry Gust possibly felt. She was torn, but it was only a short amount of time. A day or two wouldn't kill anyone, and L.C. knew to avoid areas with monsters. She set up a sturdy tent that would protect them from the elements near the waterfall. She could hear Ginger's deep breaths as she slept. Yeah, a day or two wouldn't hurt anyone.

The next day they walked through the trees again, and L.C. even brought her into the WOW Industries building. Ginger gasped with a sort of exhilarated happiness. Gust would kill them both if he knew they were there. The day after it rained all day and they and they sat in the tent with books and cuddles that quickly turned into discarded books and heated kisses.

In the afternoon of the fourth day, she woke Ginger up early so they could take their respective medicines. L.C. knew whatever she had was different from what Ginger had, she could actually be out in the sun. But L.C. was sick and it wasn't just a cold either, she was growing weaker by the day. She needed to take her medicine and fast, she needed to return to town.

She noticed how Ginger looked at her blearily.

L.C. paused, "You're sick."

"I've always been sick," she said with labored breaths.

"We need to go back, Dr. Xu, he'll fix this."

"L.C., don't you get it, he's only delaying the inevitable," she sighed.

"You sound like me," L.C. sighed right back in exasperation. "You shouldn't sound like that, you shouldn't think like that. You were always the dreamer out of the both of us."

"And it's always been my dream to do so much more, but you see L.C., dreams are for the living, and I am a dead woman," she looked over at the medicine. "I want to go swimming."

"Ginger, no," L.C. tried to reason with her.

"Please, my final wish is to go to the beach. Please, L.C., please," she begged with tears streaming down her eyes.

That night they took the dee-dee to the beach. She noticed that the beach was empty, with no search parties around for at least a mile. The Civil Corps would find them eventually, yet she knew when they would come it would be too late. As much as that thought should've terrified her she smiled at Ginger's happiness.

Ginger shakily undressed herself to her undergarments and crawled into the cold water. For a moment she looked completely healthy as the cold water gave her a shock. She stared back at L.C. at the shoreline. "L.C., you should come in."

Ginger stood in the water as long as she could before she returned to the shoreline. She wasn't in the water for five minutes, yet she was happy, so so happy.

"D-do you believe in the afterlife?" Ginger asked as she tried her hardest to make a sandcastle. It was nothing but a hill of dry and wet sand. She shivered so hard L.C. thought she would break in half.

"No, do you?"

"No," Ginger said and fell back so her hair would be tousled by the water. "I like to believe we'll be reincarnated into something else."

L.C. could barely keep her eyes open, she was tired, so tired and cold, she could feel her limbs as they slowly locked up. They both couldn't even keep themselves upright. They were side by side on the sand with their heads turned towards each other slowly soaking up the coldness of the night. L.C. swore in the distance she could see a few pinpricks of light at the plateau. They would circle around the beach soon, they would be too late.

L.C. suddenly comprehended what Ginger said, no she found it hard to believe that some mystical being watched over them or that they had souls to be reincarnated, but at that moment science didn't matter, and beneath her dreariness, a warm feeling washed over her.

"I want to be a world-renown architect in my next life," Ginger said, barely louder than the sound the waves made when they pushed and pulled the sand.

L.C. went for something much less practical. "I want to be an apple tree, right here in Portia, and everyday children will kick me for food." She laughed and it hurt her chest.

"That seems like you," Ginger said as her eyes fluttered closed. "Hopefully, I'll visit Portia and eat some of your apples."

"You're silly," L.C. said.

"I am," she replied. "I am, I am, I am."

They sat in silence. Both of their bodies cold, hearts beat slow, breaths constantly changed their rhythm.

"My feet are numb," Ginger whispered.

"Mines too," L.C. replied.

"I love you," Ginger whispered.

"I love you, too," L.C. whispered right back.

Ginger went first, L.C. could tell, after a few more minutes her hand lost its grip. L.C. blearily watched as her lover lost her color. She couldn't will her body to move much besides her fingers pressed to Ginger's hand and their arms on each other. She had to watch as her lover went through the stages of death right next to her and she was in anguish yet she didn't even have the physical power to show it.

After what seemed like an eternity Ginger's body slowly reared up. L.C. wished she could cry, or scream. She was tired so tired, she just wanted to sleep but she couldn't for some reason. She closed her eyes and tried not to focus on Ginger's horribly cold skin on hers and slowly, so slowly she began to drift off. Someone in the distance screamed. She could hear their footsteps as they quickly made their way to her. She didn't care, she couldn't. It was suddenly so impossible to care, and then her consciousness was gone.

* * *

Gust didn't know what possessed him to return to the workshop. The sky was cloudless, it was a beautiful spring morning. The gate creaked as he opened it. Ever since what happened no one would walk through the east gate, even the tourists were wary of the area. Everyone took the longer route into and out of town.

The heat in Gust's face rose as memories of his best friend and sister arose. He noticed things left on her worktable like she abruptly dropped everything without a plan and ran away. He was angry at them both, he knew they shared a bond he would never be able to share with her. He tried to find logic in their thinking, but maybe he shouldn't have.

He ignored the few free tears that trailed down his face and turned to leave but not before he noticed a little wooden chest in front of her assembly station. He curiously opened it, shame prickled down his spine as he thought he invaded L.C.'s privacy but was crushed when she saw the chest's contents.

A pink parasol and a worn-out sword next to it. He hesitantly reached out to grab them. The cloth of the umbrella was slightly sun-bleached and the sword was already on its last legs.

He caught a letter underneath its contents. Addressed directly to him. His heart skipped a beat. The realization that Albert probably waited on him was quickly ignored as he opened the letter with shaky hands. Gust held the letter in his hands. He easily recognized L.C.'s scrawl. As he read the letter over and over his anguish dampened and a new bittersweet emotion took its place.

He walked back to A&G Construction with the realization that he'd never fully get over what happened, or forgive his past behavior, but he was ready to attempt acceptance. He avoided Albert's eyes as he made his way to his workbench. However, heard Albert's light footsteps against the wood behind him. He felt a hand softly grip his shoulders and turn his chin away from the bench.

Albert kept his left hand under Gust's chin and his right hand gently plucked the letter from Gust's hand. He quickly read it and dropped it on the table and then his gaze returned to Gust. Gust could tell the last sentence is what was on his mind.

"No matter what happens just remember we're always with you," he said softly, his blue eyes stared deeply into the storm of emotions in front of him.

**Author's Note:**

> I plan to write another story in Gust's pov with Albert.


End file.
